Page 16 of The Collector
“Shell casings?”
“None.”
“Where was the victim shot?”
“The victim,” repeated the general, “was shot twice in the head. The first round was recovered from the wall behind the headboard. The trajectory indicates the killer was standing exactly where you are now.”
“And the second shot?”
“Point-blank.”
“Just to make sure?”
“So it would seem.”
“Time of death?”
“Sometime between midnight and four a.m.”
“Sign of a struggle?”
“No.”
“Defensive wound to the hand?”
The general shook his head.
“He was sleeping?”
“The forensic experts think he was.”
“Toxicology report?”
“Not yet.”
Gabriel gazed down at the blood-soaked bedding. “Theory of the case?”
“Thief kills Van Damme, thief steals painting.”
“How did thief get into the villa?”
Ferrari smiled. “Thief was invited to dinner.”
At a table outside on the immense terrace, with the sea rising and falling against the base of the cliff below, General Ferrari popped the latches on his attaché case and withdrew a manila file. Its contents included a surveillance image captured by a security camera at the nearby Santa Catarina Hotel. A dark-haired woman in her mid-thirties was seated at a table at the hotel’s popular bar. She was conversing with the late Lukas van Damme.
“She arrived in Amalfi in September and took out a six-month lease on a villa.” Ferrari rotated a few degrees in his chair and pointed out a small dwelling, white as bone, anchored to the cliff above Van Damme’s property. “In case you’re wondering, she paid in cash. Called herself Ursula Roth. Said she was German. Told her housekeeper and anyone else who would listen that she was working on a novel. The night before last, she accepted Van Damme’s invitation to dinner.”
“Did the forensic team find any evidence of sexual activity?”
“None.”
“What about hair?”
General Ferrari shook his head.
“Not to belabor the point,” said Gabriel, “but there’s no evidence of sexual activity and no evidence the woman was ever in Van Damme’s bed? Is that what you’re suggesting?”
“That appears to be the case.”
